Elevator safety door lock



DCC. 5, 1939. H, A RAlNEY 2,182,036

ELEVATOR SAFETY DOOR LOCK Filed April lo, 1939 2 sheets-sheer 1 mdf- -f H. a9. Rainey.

www@

Dec. 5, 1939. H. A. RAINEY ELEVATOR SAFETY DOOR LOCK Filed April lO, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 H. .157. Rainey. wfmy-/ @MQW/up Patented Dec. 5, 1939 UNITE stares 2,182,036V ELEvA'ron SAFETY Doon Loox iDTENT OFFlCE Herbert Allen Rainey, Richmond; Va. Application April 10, 1939, Serial No. 267,123

3 Claims.

there are occasions when faulty conditions of one sort or another have permitted the doors. to be y opened, 'or left open, resulting in serious accidents. Il 4 elevator door safety lock mechanism which will positively preclude the opening of the elevator door unless a car is stopped at the floor, except in cases of emergency.`

Another object is to provide a safety lock system which is adapted to be applied to existing elevator systems withoutin any way'interfering with the operation of the existing apparatus.

Another object is to provide a safety mech- ;25 anism of very simple construction.

Other objects andadvantages of lthis invention will' appear from the following description taken in connection with-.the accompanying drawings.

f3 In the drawings, wherein like characters represent corresponding parts inthe various figures- Figure 1 is a partial elevation showing the 4mechanism on the inside of an elevator shaft as viewed facing the door; l

Figure 2 is a transverse section substantially on the line 2 2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a further view similar to Figure 1, but showing the parts in a position with thedoor open; and

@o Figure 4 is an enlarged detail of a part of the safety locking mechanism.

Considering the drawings in greater detail, one set of elevator doors IQ and II are shown which form the closure elements of the door opening I2 ,45 located at any floor of a building. The door II .is normally closed at all times, and may be secured adjacent the door openings by either hinges or a sliding connection. The door lll is allowed to slide back and forth thereby opening f5() and closing the entrance I2 to the elevator shaft. v

This movable door is shown as being mounted by rollers I3 and I4 for sliding connection on the supporting shaft I5, and may also have rollers vI6 and I'I at the -bottom thereof support- 55 ing the door in a groove or runway I8. The

(ci. iSv- 57) One object of this-invention is to provide an p f door is normally locked closed by the levers I9 and 2U which are pivotally connected together at the l point 2 l, and which are pivoted, respectively,

vat 22 on the door and at 23 to a bracket 2li properly secured at 25 to the side wall 26 of the ele- 225 vator shaft. It will be obvious thatwith the door in the position shown in Figure 1, a limit stop 2l', carried on the lever I9, engages the lever 2li to stop'the levers lin horizontal position. In order to open the elevator door, it is neces-n10 sary to raise the levers out of their dead center position. y f

In order to prevent the door from slamming at the limit of either opening or closing movement,

a pair of dash pots 28 and ZSare connected with :any

the lever mechanism just described by approlpriate linkages so as to dissipate the momentum of the door with an appropriate cushioning action; The dash pots are pivotally supported, at 30 and 3l, on a bracket 32, which latter is securedgg in the wall 25. A bracket 33 `is `secured to the wall of the elevator shaft, and supports at its outer end a lever 34. AThe lever 3d is pivotally connected to the piston rods 3K5 and 3l and is pivotally supported on the bracket at 35 for oscilg5 lating movement. The dash pots .may be of any appropriate construction, and may preferably be of liquid dash pot type.

The -outer end of lever 34B has a pivotal connectiony with the upwardly extending connectf3 0 ing rod 39, which latter is pivoted at Ill upon'a cross head 4I. The cross head is also connected to the Ilever- 20 by Way of a bracket 42. This connectionis accomplished by an intermediate link i3 pivotally connected on the cross head at35 M and on the bracket at 45. v It will be observedthat as a result of this system of linkages, that at least one or the other yof the dash pots-will take up the momentum of the door at the end. of its closing or opening ',340

movement. An additicnalmeans forabsorbing the shock of opening the door is obtained ywith 'the bumper 46 which may be of rubber or other suitable material.

Instead of having to rely solely upon the man- 45 ual power exerted by the elevator. operator in grasping the door hand grip 4l to open it, power means can preferably be provided to reduce the manual effort needed.` In thisl respect a power cylinder .48 is vmountedon the bracket I9 and is @50` '.spxrings 50 and 5I .engage the end of thecylinder 48 and the piston 53, respectively. The other 55 ends abut against the collar 52 sliding substantially centrally on the piston rod 54. The upper end of this rod 54 is secured to cross head 4|, which ties the p-ower cylinder into the linkage mechanism. The springs and 5i are arranged With differential spring tension; and the cylinder may preferably be pneumatically operated, but it will be understood that other fluid mediums may be utilized.. The cross head 4i is rmly secured to the guide rod 55, which latter slides in bearings 55 and 5l carried by the brackets 5l) and 49, respectively. The bracket 58 is also apertured at 59 to allow the securing means 60 tof pass through the bracket without striking against the same. In this manner a reasonable amount of adjustment can be obtained without requiring a relocating of any of the partis.

The operation of the power means is controllable by the operator of the elevator passing f to floor. ycarried by the supporting element S2 upon the through the shaft, and is only placed in operation as a result of the car stopping at a particular In order to accomplish this, a cam 6| is elevator car. `This cam is normallyv positioned on the elevator car so as toavoid striking or engaging the roller 63. When the car is being stopped for a particular floor, the elements 52 are movedas a result of the operator throwing the car controls for a stop, with the result that the cam surface engages the roller 63, in turn causing the bell crank 64 'to move from the full line position of Figure 1 to the full line'position of Figure 3. This movement is transmitted to the control valve E5 by way of the valve stem lever arm 65. Fluid supply enters the valve by. the connection 5l, and, with the valve in operating position as seen in Figure 3, uid is allowed to enter the cylinder to push the piston 53 upward transmitting its thrust through the piston rod 54, cross head 4l, and link 43 to open the elevator door. The movement of the bell crank is transmitted at the valve arm 6E by way of the push rod 68, which latter, at itslower end, is

connected to the bell crank by a. yoke 69 and pin connection 10, the bell crank having a slot 'H to provide a certain amount of lost motion, so that there will not be any binding of the parts in operation. The push rod carries a collar 'l2 and the spring I3 is interposed between the collar 12 and the bracket 14, thereby urging the spring downwardly to reset the ydoor locking position.A

mechanism in j The movable door is arranged to be latched open by means in addition to that heretofore described, including the pivoted latch member 'l5 and the movable abutment 76. The latch is mounted on a boss 'il carried by plate '38, which latter carriestwo limit stops 'H9 and 8i), respectively, the former preventing the latch from being completely turned on its pivot, the latter serving to `stop the door when the latch is thrown against the movable abutment 16. The pivotal arrangement of this latch allows the door moving past the abutment 16 to be moved back into closing position with the latch riding up on the abutment and dropping back into place, as indicated in Figures 1 and 3. This latch can preferably be weighted to hold it in its normal position. The abutment 16 being mounted with respect to the floor, and being positioned a short distance away from the latch, will allow the elevator door to be opened a veryV narrow space, for

the abutment is accomplished by the push rod 84, which is pivoted at to the abutment. The opposite end of the push rod is pivoted at 85 to K one arm B1 of va bell crank 81, the latter being pivotally supported at 88 on the oor.

The opposite armmBS of the vbell crank 89 is arranged with a slot and pin connection similar to the one lll-ll on the'previously described bell crank. Both of these connections arer to the yoke 69.

It will now be observed that at the Sametime the elevator car cam 6| moves the bell'crank yt4 to apply powerv to open the door, it also operates the mechanism moving the abutment 'lto release the door safety lock.

It will now be observed that' even if =a` leakv should occur in the valve 65 allowing pressure to andabutment l5-'i6 will positively preclude the opening of the elevator door. Since there 'is no direct connection between the safety lock mech- A"build up in the operating cylinder 48,' the latch l iii-9 anismand thepower mechanism, either may operate independently of the other and still preserve the safety` locking feature with regard to the door. Incase of an emergency where'it is absolutely necessary to forcethe elevator safety door open, an aperture 90 is arranged in the normallyclosed door and the arm. 9! is. secured on the push rod 84. A suitable tool 92 vcan 'be-inserted in this hole to act as av lever engaging the `arm 9| with the leverage being sufficient 'to' release the door safety latch. Although av preferred embodiment of this invention is illustrated and, described,'variations Vwithin the true spirit and scope 'of the s'ameare to be determined'by the appended claims'.v

What I claim is: '7 1.*In association witha slidable elevator door alatch pivoted on the shaft rface of the"`door near its bottom with means to limit its rotation and a-stop for the latch mounted on' the door sill comprising a fixed member'provided' with a slot having an inclined bottom'and a movable member having a depending flange slidable' in said slot, said flange having an inclinedbottm'and means for sliding the movable memberA with respect to the-fixed member, wherebythe height of -said lstop can be adjuste '1 v 2. The device of claim l in which the means for sliding the movable member of the 'stop includes a connecting rod extending adjacentlthe door, and having a lug, the elevator door being provided with an orice adjacent said lug whereby theconnecting rod can be manipulated'by a rod inserted through said orice.

3. The `device of claim l with power operated mechanism for sliding the door including means for controlling the power and means connecting 'said power controlling means with the movable member of the stop whereby the application of 4power tothe door operating mechanism will simultaneously slide'the movable stop vmembe out of the path of the pivoted latch. example, an inch more or less. In cases of emergency this Will allow the person to observe lin the HERBERT- ALLEN RAINEY. y 

